


Innocence

by TooMuchAFan



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen, Magic, Rash Disease
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-03-31 10:11:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3974215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooMuchAFan/pseuds/TooMuchAFan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fanwork, I hope you guys enjoy it!</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanwork, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Emil looked down at his feet, then up at the blue, cloud-spattered sky. It didn’t help. He tried desperately to block out what was happening in front of him, to deny the evidence of his eyes. He didn’t want to see, but somehow his eyes were irresistibly drawn back to the scene of horror in front of him. He shut his eyelids. The sounds of the day came to him, relentless - seagulls crying over the bay, wind in the grass and the ruined buildings of the old city, and, grinding over the top of the other sounds, the sharpening of a knife.

Shick...shick...shick

Tuuri leaned down to see where the noise was coming from. There was nothing under the dashboard, and anyway, the sound seemed to be coming from farther back, inside the cat-tank. She hesitated. Surely it couldn’t do any harm… anyway, it was probably a mechanical fault. That was her job!  
With nothing more than a cursory glance at Mikkel - leaning against the wall, having a quick snooze in the morning sunlight - she pushed open the door to the next compartment and stepped inside. She unstrapped her mask - it was uncomfortable, and there was no reason to wear it in here - and rolled up her sleeves, then had a look around the room for the source of the mysterious sound. It was louder in here, and she thought it was probably coming from the air vent near the ceiling. Maybe some piece of the air-con had fallen loose and had become trapped in a moving part. Tuuri crossed the room without a second thought, stood on tiptoe and pried the vent open.  
Suddenly, something came rushing out at her. A blur of ragged fur and scabby skin and claws whacked into her face. She smelt blood and rot and hot, sweaty animal, all in a fraction of a second. She stumbled back and gasped. The thing was on the floor, scrabbling around and hissing in a ragged way. She gritted her teeth and gave it a hard kick. It smacked into the wall and lay there, wriggling, until Tuuri stomped on it. It was a horrible thing - a vermin beast that might once have been a mouse or small rat. It was leaking a little blood, and Tuuri realised that there was a sticky patch on her forehead. She wiped it with her shirtsleeve, and sure enough, there was blood on the thick fabric. “Eew!” she muttered, then looked around the compartment for a moment, opened the door and kicked the disgusting thing out. Done.  
She had settled back into the driver’s seat before the full enormity of what had just happened hit her like a ton of bricks.  
Oh gods, she thought, oh gods. She’d been so stupid! Why couldn’t she have ignored the sound? Or worn her mask? She swore under her breath, and scratched her wrist subconsciously. When she realised what she’d done, she swore again. Hitto! It’s starting already! Then another revelation almost bowled her over. What about Lalli? He couldn’t talk to the rest of the crew without her, he’d be completely lost… A thousand horrible images filled her head, crowding in and freezing her to the bone. What would her cousin do without her?  
She shook her head. She was being stupid! An itch didn’t mean the Rash, not yet. She had plenty of time. She could do something. She had to! No sense in telling anybody - no need to get them worried. She could handle thi-  
KATHUUM!


	2. Chapter 2

Sigrun scraped the knife along the whetstone one last time. She checked the blade; it glittered razor-sharp in the sunlight. She tucked the whetstone into her pocket and raised the knife. Then she froze.   
She couldn’t do it! Oh gods, why now? She’d done this before! It didn’t have to be so hard - it never had been before. Maybe it was just the person. Before it had been comrades, friends - but all of them grown men and women, and mostly so horribly injured they’d been barely conscious. It was kindness to put them out of their misery, a last favour. But the person kneeling before her now was young, and perfectly awake - shuddering too. How could she end that life in clear conscience? She’d feel like a monster!  
“Sigrun.” Mikkel tapped her on the shoulder. “Come on,”he said, not unkindly, “Hurry up, for her sake.”  
Sigrun nodded, and raised the knife again…

“Tuuri,” murmured Lalli, “What is that?”  
Tuuri started, then looked up at Lalli with large, frightened eyes. Wordlessly, she rolled up her sleeve. Her cousin grimaced. Along Tuuri’s arm, huge patches of red, scabby skin shone like massive grazes, but, as the Finns stared at it, they both knew what it really was.  
There was a long silence. Then Lalli said one word. “Tuuri.”  
Their eyes met for a moment. Then Tuuri burst into shaky tears. “I’m so sorry!” she stammered, “I’ve been so stupid! I thought it would go away! I didn’t mean it to happen! Oh, Lalli…”  
Lalli put an awkward hand on her shoulder. “Just tell me… how it happened.”  
Tuuri gave a shuddering gasp and wiped away her tears. “Well, I was sitting in the cat-tank,” she began, nervously, “while - while you were in that building, and I…”  
Lalli listened blankly, sitting very still until his cousin was finished. She watched him with red-rimmed eyes, as if staring at him would make everything alright. Lalli looked down at his feet, and let out a long, soft breath. “I...I don’t know,” he said, quietly, “It’s not good. I might be able to help, but you have to do one thing, alright?”  
Tuuri nodded owlishly.  
“Whatever happens...don’t tell the others. I might be able to help you, but you’re probably going to die.”  
Tuuri caught her breath. She knew her cousin’s...direct manner of speaking, but that was a little blunt, even for him!  
Lalli continued. “But if you tell the others, they’ll kill you. They’ll kill you, and leave your body to the trolls! They won’t even give me a chance!”  
Lalli was almost shouting now. “I don’t want you to die, Tuuri! I don’t want - I don’t - I - I don’t want you to die…”  
He sank to his knees.Tuuri put her good arm around her cousin’s shoulders. “I know,” she said, “I know.”  
They were silent for a while, then Tuuri spoke again. “Lalli?”  
“Mm?”  
“I want you to promise me something, now.”  
“Mmhmm.”  
Tuuri looked at the ground. “Um...um. I want you to promise me that, whatever happens…”  
“Mm?”  
“You won’t do anything, um, silly, will you?”  
Lalli looked at her blankly. “What”  
“Oh, come on! Surely you know what I mean!”  
He concentrated. “Um...like climbing the fence, or throwing snowballs at the Commander? Onni said it was silly when Saku did that.”  
Tuuri sighed. “No...I mean like, um… like jumping off a cliff, or stabbing yourself...”  
Lalli just stared at her.  
“Do I really have to spell it out for you? I mean kill yourself. Don’t kill yourself, Lalli.”  
He gave her another blank look. “Why would I do that?”  
Tuuri relaxed. Sometimes, you had to admire her cousin’s way of thinking. It was… logical. Sometimes, scarily so. It could seem like he didn’t have any emotions.   
“Never mind,” she said, “Never mind…”


	3. Chapter 3

Lalli struggled, but Mikkel was too strong; he couldn’t get free. He collapsed, miserably. He felt awful, but he wasn’t crying; at least, not anymore. But his throat was sore, and the sticky ghosts of tears still lingered on his cheeks. The Finn was devastatingly sad, but he was angry too. Angry at the people standing around him. Angry at the world; angry at the gods and the spirits, for letting him down. And most of all, he was angry at himself. How could he have let this happen? It was his own, stupid fault! Stupid, stupid. Anger and misery were the only things left in the whole mad, awful, pointless world. Now he knew what Tuuri had meant! Poor, poor, Tuuri - what had she done to deserve this? Sweet, naive, innocent Tuuri - so eager to see a troll, and now, here she was, set to become one! But NO!, she wouldn’t, because they were going to kill her. Kill her! How could they? The heartless monsters! Heartless…

Emil couldn’t believe his eyes, but he wasn’t about to deny them, either. The scene in front of him was amazing, eerie - but also terrible. And all the more terrible, because he knew exactly what it meant.   
He’d gone looking for the Finns after an spectacular earbashing from Sigrun. Sure, he might have been supposed to be looking out for them, and sure, maybe he’d just taken a quick nap, which might have turned out to be longer than he intended, but geez! That woman was so loud you’d think all the trolls in Copenhagen would have run away in fright!   
He’d been searching for hours, and now he was pretty sure he knew every square centimetre of the island like the back of his hand, and somehow, he’d managed to miss what was right under his nose! They were sitting on a low, concrete bench - in the bunker, damnit! But what they were doing now...well, all thoughts of annoyance were forgotten! It was an amazing sight…  
Lalli’s eyes were glowing solid, bright blue, casting an eerie glow over the dark, mossy walls. Tuuri’s were glowing as well, but not like Lalli’s - they were glowing from the back, like light shining up through water. Lalli was holding his cousin’s arm - and this was the weirdest and most horrifying part of the whole spectacle. Tuuri’s arm was awful - simply revolting. Emil felt like throwing up as he gazed at the terrible thing. It was red-white, slimy and scaly, with little tendrils of flesh dangling from it like macabre tassels. It glistened in the light of the Finns’ eyes, and flickered in another light…  
Lalli’s arms were encased in crackling, flickering tentacles of light, flowing down his fingers to his cousin’s arm, where they sunk into the ravaged flesh. Emil, though dazed as he was, realised that he’d been completely wrong about the scout - he really could do magic! But this thought was replaced by another, worse one: Tuuri has the Rash… It had to be the Rash. No other disease he knew could do that, and anyway, it all made sense - the way Tuuri had been so secretive the past few weeks, the way she and Lalli seemed always to be having whispered conversations.   
Lalli let go of Tuuri’s arm, the magic fading away and the light in their eyes winking out. Emil blinked in the sudden darkness, as acid-yellow afterimages floated across his vision. He heard a brief exchange of Finnish, and rustling movement, and realised that the others were getting ready to move out. He decided not to let them see him; it would be a nasty surprise to them if they learnt that he’d been watching their whole episode…  
He trudged back up the concrete tunnel. Hell! He couldn't keep that a secret, could he? He knew what happened when people tried to cure the Rash with magic. Well, he’d guessed, mostly. At least, he’d thought about it, a bit… Damnit, he had to tell someone! For Lalli’s sake! No, hold on, it would destroy him if his cousin died… For Tuuri’s sake? No, that didn’t make any sense at all; if he told the adults, she was dead…  
Dead! That was a sobering thought! Tuuri had the rash, Tuuri was going to die… Crap! He had to tell someone - he could think of a hundred ways this could go horribly wrong! Well, a few anyway. Well, okay, one - but it was a really bad one! He couldn’t let that happen. He made up his mind - he would tell Mikkel. The Dane was usually serious - well, apart from that damn joke! But the captain would go totally psycho, he was sure - best not to tell her himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Mikkel was stirring a pot when Emil rounded the corner of the tank - which seemed to be his favourite pastime. He looked up.   
“Have you found them yet?”  
Emil swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Um… I’ve gotta tell you something.”  
“Go ahead”  
Nervously, Emil began. “Well, uh, I was looking for ages, but it turns out they were down in the fort. you know?”  
Mikkel grinned, and Emil blushed. Damn! He’d made a fool of himself!  
To hide his embarrassment, he continued quickly, “I found them down in the fort, but I didn’t get them. I don’t think they would have liked to have known that I saw them down there.”  
Mikkel looked curiously at him. “Why?”  
“Well…” Emil paused for a moment, and shuddered, “Tuuri’s arm, it was all...er”  
He made a few vague gestures, and finished lamely, “Gross, you know?”  
Mikkel shook his head. “No, I don’t”  
“Oh, um, ah, “ Emil struggled with the words. Mikkel looked on.  
The Swede gave up. “Mikkel, I think she has the Rash.”  
Mikkel took the news quietly. He stood in silence, regarding Emil with an implacable expression, revealing nothing. When he finally spoke, it was with a careful, measured tone.  
“How do you know?”  
Emil finally found the right words, and launched into a description of the scene in the bunker. He might just have been talking to hide his worry, because something had clicked into place. He really understood it now - or at least, he thought he did.

The Rash was the end.  
Tuuri was going to die.

Tuuri knelt in the dry grass, shivering even in the warmth of the day. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead and into her eyes. She blinked it away, and found tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. No! She tried to wipe them away, but her tied hands wouldn’t let her. No! Not now! I’m not going to cry! She had to be strong. For Lalli. For Onni. Poor, poor Onni. He’d tried so hard to protect her, and this was his reward? But she’d decided that she’d had to come on this mission, and now look what had happened! It had all gone so wrong…


End file.
